You stayed active for years despite having hip arthritis. But now, the pain is constant, and walking is a struggle. Are you a good candidate for total hip replacement surgery?
Our Cascade Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Center, P.C., team can help you make that decision. Our joint replacement surgery specialists evaluate your hip, review your qualifications, and answer your questions as they guide you.
If you qualify, you can look forward to a new hip joint that eliminates pain and moves like your original hip. Get a head start by reading about the four criteria we use to determine if you’re a good candidate.
A hip replacement isn’t the appropriate solution for every painful hip problem. Replacements give you a new, fully functioning joint when the original bones and tissues are too damaged to be repaired.
You may need a total hip replacement after a fracture severely damages the bones. You could also qualify for replacement surgery if you have osteonecrosis.
Osteonecrosis develops when an injury limits blood supply to the rounded end of the leg bone (femur). As a result, the bone collapses.
However, arthritis is the most common reason for hip replacements. In advanced arthritis, the joint degeneration is so severe that replacing the joint may be the only way to improve your symptoms and restore your quality of life.
Though there are a few exceptions, like a sudden, severe hip injury needing immediate surgery, treatment for hip pain begins with conservative (non-surgical) therapies.
The first line of treatment for arthritis includes:
Many people enjoy an active life for years as these treatments improve mobility, slow joint deterioration, and ease pain. But when your symptoms become intolerable despite treatment, the next step is a hip replacement.
3. Your symptoms are severe
Arthritis is a progressive disease that gradually breaks down cartilage and bone and causes bone spurs and inflammation. These changes result in pain and limited hip movement that worsens as the degeneration progresses.
Evaluating the severity of your symptoms and their impact on your life is at the heart of determining if you’re a good candidate for hip replacement surgery.
Signs that it’s time to consider surgery include:
When your symptoms limit your life or the pain is intolerable, you qualify for a hip replacement.
Before having any surgery, you undergo preoperative tests and blood work to be sure you don’t have a health condition that would make surgery dangerous.
Some conditions, such as a hip or body-wide infection, peripheral artery disease, and osteoporosis, must be treated before you can have hip replacement surgery. We may ask you to lose weight because excessive body weight increases your risk of complications.
Age is not a qualifying factor. You can have a hip replacement at any age if you’re in good overall health and meet the criteria.
Children and teens with pediatric arthritis can qualify for a hip replacement. However, we prefer the surgery in adults because their bones have grown and reached optimal density.
The longevity of your new hip depends on variables like your activity level, physical condition, weight, and age when getting the new joint. Though hip replacements last a long time, they can eventually loosen.
Chances are you may need a second surgery to replace the prosthesis if you have a total hip replacement in young or middle adulthood.
Connect with our caring team by booking online or calling the office in Hood River or The Dalles, Oregon, to learn if you qualify for a hip replacement.
